KASKA |
Inventor: Andreas E. Verweyen, 2008 |
Ranks: Two |
Sowing: Single laps |
Region: Germany |
KASKA is an experimental mancala game designed in 2008 by Andreas E. Verweyen, a German game inventor living in Meerbusch, Germany. The original concept was flawed because the game can be forced into a draw. A fix of the game was suggested by Verweyen in 2011. The changes affected mainly the capturing rules and the winning condition.
Rules
General Rules
KASKA is played on a board, which consists of two rows, each one with two pits.
Each player starts with a specified number of stones off-board, which is empty at the beginning. One player gets the white stones, the other one the black stones.
Initial Position
The player with the white stones (called "White") makes the first move.
On his turn, a player may either put one of his stones in any pit of the board or he can sow the contents of a pit, in which he holds the majority of stones.
Sowing is clockwise or counterclockwise by distributing the contents of a hole, one stone at a time, into the ensuing pits. The stones can be distributed in any order, however, the last one sown must be of the player's color.
The game is finished if there are no legal moves left or the remaining moves make "no sense" (the exact meaning of the latter has never been explained by the game's author).
Old Rules
Originally KASKA was played by 2-4 players.
The amount of stones each player got depended on the number of players: 12, if two people played; 8 stones, if 3 played; or 6 stones, if 4 played.
If, after the sowing, a player had three or more of his stones in a pit containing less enemy stones, the minority group was captured, whatever their color was. The captured stones were permanently removed from the game and stored away till the final count.
The player who had captured most enemy stones won. When two player had captured the same number, the game was a draw for them.
Revised Rules
The revised KASKA is played by two persons.
Each player gets 15 counters of his color.
If, after his move, a player has four or more of his stones in a pit, the contents of that pit are removed. Stones of the player's own color can be re-introduced later on, but stones of the opponent are captured and stored till the final count.
The play who has captured at least eight enemy stones wins. Draws and ties are not possible.
References
- Verweyen, A. E.
- KASKA (Power Point Presentation). Meerbusch (Germany) 2008.
- Verweyen, A. E.
- KASKA. In: Spiel und Autor 2011; 53: 41.
Copyright
© Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.